Boulder County open space tour highlights flood damage 

Boulder County ranger Kevin Grady, who lives at Heil Valley Ranch near Lyons, said the overnight flooding in September sounded like a freight train barreling past his house.

“The house was fine, but everything around it was washed away,” he said as he looked over a creek bed that once was Geer Canyon Road — the road used to access the trailhead. “It was insane.”

Geer Creek, he added, is typically “dry as a bone” by this time in November, but it's still running thanks to the over saturated ground. One of the road's two culverts also now is in the middle of the creek, while the other was washed far downstream. Multiple areas were either scoured out by the raging water or filled up with rocks swept downstream.

The flood waters from the St. Vrain River changed the course of the river east of Lyons and cut away the landscape. Boulder County Parks and Open Space officials gave a tour on Sunday through some of the flood damaged areas that are not open to the public.
(
CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

Grady spoke to open space advisory board members and area residents who took a tour today of some of the county properties damaged by September's floods that haven't been reopened to the public. The tour, led by county Parks and Open Space Department director Ron Stewart, included Heil Valley Ranch, county open space areas east of Lyons along the St. Vrain River and Pella Crossing.

“Our goal for today is to let you see for yourself the damage that's occurred,” Stewart said. “Some of these areas won't be open for awhile.”

The four-hour tour started from two locations, the Boulder County Courthouse and the Parks and Open Space headquarters building west of Longmont.

Advertisement

Several of those on the tour said they either are frequent open space users or frequent volunteers and wanted to see the damage.

Cheryl and Ed Walker, who live in Longmont, described themselves as outdoor enthusiasts.

“I consider Heil my home mountain bike trail,” Ed Walker said. “I wanted to see it. The flooding was such a mind numbing event. It's incredible the effort they've got to put into it to get it repaired.

Flooding of the St. Vrain River created this Martian-like landscape off of Colo. 66 east of Lyons. The home at the top left was moved from the intersection of U.S. 36 and Colo. 66 to this location.
(
CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

”

Stewart said the flooding caused an estimated $2.5 million in damage to Boulder County open space trails, restrooms, kiosks and parking lot. But, he said, the overall estimate to repair damage on Boulder County open space land is $50 million, with the most extensive damage at lakes and ponds — particularly reservoirs along or near the St. Vrain River corridor.

On county open space along the St. Vrain River, one side of the river near the Cemex plant is largely untouched with a thicket of bushes and trees that form a riparian area. The other side looks like a beach, with a layer of sand and only a single bush and some stumps left. A dry bed of rocks shows the river's former path, with a new path nearby that's about six feet lower and going in a new direction.

The roof and upper section of a house, an upended RV, a grill, a ladder and a vacuum cleaner are scattered through the area.

The flooding also caused breeches in lakes and ponds in more than dozen areas on county open space, creating big lakes out of individual ponds and wreaking havoc with irrigation ditches.

“I would guess there will be some farms that will be dry, but hopefully not too many,” Stewart said.

Half of the barn at the Ramey Farm near Hygiene — the oldest intact farmstead in the county — fell into the river and the house and the barns now are divided by a gaping canyon. And, at the Pella Crossing Open Space area near Hygiene, about half of the parking lot is gone, the bathroom overturned and the trail system wrecked.

The recovery effort also includes the monumental task of debris removal. The county has a $12 million contract with an outside company to remove the rocks, sand and tree limbs clogging culverts and waterways.

Stewart said decisions are expected soon on a timeline for repairs and reopening areas to the public. One issue, he said, is funding. The county doesn't have the money to start all the projects while waiting for federal and state reimbursements for flood-recovery work. Another is the finding the manpower to make repairs, given the extent of the damage.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story